Friday, February 7, 2014

4th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, 08-02-14

1 Kings 3:4-13 / Mark 6:30-34

We have heard of those folk-tales about genies appearing from magic lamps and granting wishes; usually three wishes and sometimes more.

The wishes are granted to the person because the genie was trapped in the magic lamp and the person released the genie by rubbing the lamp. (eg. Aladdin and the magic lamp)

And then from there will come stories of adventure, the morals of the story, some jokes about those wishes, etc.

In the 1st reading, we heard about the Lord God offering to grant Solomon any request, although it was not stated whether it was one or more.

Even if it was only one wish, a shrewd person would probably say: Lord, grant that all my wishes will come true.

Well, Solomon could have had everything but he asked the Lord only for wisdom. But because the Lord was pleased with his request, he was also given everything.

In the gospel, Jesus told His apostles to go off to some lonely place all by themselves to rest for a while.

They had been on the mission of preaching repentance and deliverance from evil spirits and healing the sick, and they had been successful and euphoric about it.

Jesus had to take His apostles away from the mission, not just to rest, but to get a clear perspective, that it is the Lord who was granting them this power and authority.

May we also have the wisdom to see that all our abilities and resources come from the Lord.

Like St. Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant theologian, when the Lord appeared to him and asked him what he wanted as his reward, he answered: Only you Lord, only you.